Opinion: Send kids the message that 'sexting' is a crime RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Sheriff's deputies arrested a 16-year-old boy and cited a 14-year-old girl on Friday morning following a two week investigation into a sexting scandal at Etiwanda High School.

After questioning numerous people, including four victims, detectives arrested the boy and booked him into the San Bernardino County juvenile hall.

"We have already addressed this unfortunate incident with our students," said Mat Holton, the superintendent of Chaffey Joint Union High School District.

"And we're going to continue to be proactive in our responsibilities to our students education beyond the curriculum. "

During the investigation, detectives served search warrants to Twitter, a real-time information network, as well as conducting and completing a data analysis on both suspects' cell phones and computers.

The boy was booked on suspicion of distribution of child pornography, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said.

"Communicating through social media is what high school aged kids do," Holton said in a previous interview. "In a high school district of over 25,000 teens, it's incumbent on us to educate them on the etiquette but more importantly the danger of sending pictures and other materials. "

A school security officer at Etiwanda High looked into the matter and reported the sexting incidents to the Sheriff's Department. The officer learned the boy allegedly had four semi-nude photos of female students on his cellphone and sent them to others via text message.

The students being investigated - the boy who initially sent the photos and four girls - attend either Rancho Cucamonga or Etiwanda high schools.

"This has certainly caused students to be very aware of the long-term effects that social media can have on their future," Holton said.

Students at Etiwanda High School expressed disappointment, outrage, shock, but also the need to move on after the incident.

Linda Arias, the mother of a sophomore student, was waiting to pick up her daughter in front of the school on Friday. Her daughter sat in front of the male suspect in Algebra 2, she said.

"It's very upsetting because they have access to so much now technology-wise," Arias said. "In the past, a naughty picture would have just been local, but now, it's global, on the Internet, and they don't realize how much damage it can do."

Celia Dixon, a freshman at Etiwanda High School, said, "What he did was really wrong, and he deserves to be arrested."

Deallan Guy, a freshmen at Etiwanda added, "That was kind of foul."

"That was out of line," Guy said. "I just don't think it was right. He posted their names. The pictures were enough, but the names was really too far out there ... It basically got out to the whole world. It was on Twitter."

Students said the male suspect, a sophomore at Etiwanda High School, took down his social media posts and would likely be expelled.

"The student doesn't represent the school," said Jonathan Diaz. "It's just one student, and he doesn't represent our entire school."